The Hawks are trying to maintain momentum on a tough road trip, and the Knicks just trying to keep a winning record.

That's why when the teams play Wednesday at Madison Square Garden, there doesn't figure to be much talk about the fisticuffs and resulting exchanges in the media between All-Star players that marked the last time they met.

Yeah, right.

This is New York, after all, where juicy story lines get all the oxygen they need. So Knicks forward Amar'e Stoudemire, when offered a chance to reiterate his distaste for Hawks center Al Horford pounding his chest to fire up fans during that Jan. 28 game, obliged.

"It's going to be a very, very intense game after what happened in Atlanta," Stoudemire told reporters at Knicks practice Tuesday. "He don't want to see me. I watched him play in Florida, and I've seen him play a few years in Atlanta. We've got two different games, and we'll see how it plays out tomorrow."

Stoudemire's implication seems to be that he's tougher than Horford, who also is an Eastern Conference All-Star. Stoudemire made comments of a similar nature after the Hawks' 111-102 victory, saying Horford "is not that type of player" and "doesn't want to see me on any night, so he'd better relax and calm down."

That prompted Horford to respond with a post on his Twitter account: "I am that kind of player, who does what he needs to win ..."

Horford didn't have much to add after the Hawks' 94-79 victory at Detroit on Monday.